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What is Panchang?

Panchang is the Hindu Calendar and it is a sanskrit word which is comprises of two words i.e. 'Panch' meaning 5 and 'Ang' meaning part. These 5 parts are Nakshatra,Tithi, Vaar, Yoga and Karan. Thus the Hindu Calendar depicts these 5 aspects on a particular date. Panchang is also known as Panchangam in South India, Panji in Odisha, Panjika in Bengal and so on. Panchang is fundamental to Vedic Astrology and any Vedic Astrologer should have a good idea on Panchang. The following is the detailed elaboration of each of the parts of a panchang.

Nakshatra- There are 27 Nakshatras in all starting from Ashwini till Revati. The Moon transits across each Nakshatra for just over a day. The Nakshatra where Moon is currently placed at the time of birth of a person is known as the birth Nakshatra. The following are the names of the Nakshatras- Ashvini, Bharani, Krittika, Rohini, Mrigashīrsha, Ardra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Āshleshā, Maghā, Pūrva Phalgunī, Uttara Phalgunī, Hasta, Chitra, Swāti, Vishakha, Anuradha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Purva Ashadha, Uttara Ashadha, Sravana, Dhanishta , Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhādrapadā, Revati.

Vaar (Day) - There are 7 vaar in all namely Monday(Som-Vaar), Tuesday(Mangal-Vaar), Wednesday(Budh-Vaar), Thursday(Guru-Vaar), Friday(Shukra-Vaar), Saturday(Shani-Vaar) and Sunday(Ravi-Vaar). A Vaar (day) is from one sunrise to another sunrise. The curious part of Vaar is that every day/Vaar is named after a planet/graha. It is because as per Vedic Astrology the first Hora (a unit of time) is ruled by that particular planet/graha on that day and hence is the name.

Tithis - Tithi is the phase of a moon and mathematically it is calculated as the time taken by the Moon to traverse approximately 13 Degrees & 20 Minutes. A Tithi is thus the relative distance between the Sun and the moon. 15 Tithis make one Paksha and there are two types of Paksh i.e. the Shukla Paksha and the Krishna Paksha. The Shukla Paksha is the brighter phase of the lunar cycle on which with each passing day the moon gets brighter and it starts from the day following Amavasya till The Purnima. Krishna Paksha is the diminishing phase of the Moon and it starts on the day following Purnima till Amavasya. It should be noted that the beginning of a month in northern India is considered from Krishna Paksha.

Yoga - The fourth aspect of the Panchanga is Yoga. It is calculated as follows,(Longitude of moon + Longitude of Sun) / 13°20′ . The Yogas are of 27 types. These yogas determine the innate persona types of the individual. Out of these 27 Yogas, 9 are considered inauspicious and the rest are auspicious. The names of these Yogas are as follows, Vishkamba (inauspicious), Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Sobhana, Atiganda(inauspicious), Sukarma, Shriti, Shoola(inauspicious), Ganda(inauspicious), Vriddhi, Dhruva, Vyagatha(inauspicious), Harshana, Vajra(inauspicious), Siddhi, Vyatipata(inauspicious), Variyan, Parigha(inauspicious), Siva, Siddha, Sadhya, Subha, Sukla, Brahma, Indra and Vaidhriti(inauspicious).

Karana - This is the fifth aspect of a Panchanga. Karana is the half of a Tithi. Hence, there are two Karana in a Tithi. The total number of Karanas are 11. Out of these 4 are fixed namely Shakuni, Chatuspada, Naga, Kaustava. The rest 7 are movable and their names are Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitala, Gara, Vanija and Visthi.

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What is Rahu & Ketu?

The plane of orbit of revolution of Moon is inclined to the plane of revolution of earth around the Sun. Thus, the angle formed between the straight line from the center of Sun to the center of earth and the moon’s plane of revolution is equal to 5 Degrees. Now the plane of revolution of Moon intersects the plane of revolution of Earth-Sun at two points. Thus there forms an ascending node and the descending node. The ascending node is ‘Rahu’ while the descending node is ‘Ketu’.

As per the Hindu Mythology, during churning of the sea which is referred to as the 'Samudra-Manthan', the Gods and the Demons were involved in the churning with the aid of 'Vaasuki' snake. During the 'Samudra-Manthan' nectar or 'amrit' was churned out and all Gods lined up to take their share of this 'amrit'. However, in this band-wagon, one of the Demon disguised himself as a God to have his share of this 'amrit' and this secret was revealed by Moon God to Lord Vishnu who slaughtered the neck of this Demon with the help of his 'Sudarshan Chakra'. The head of this Demon is referred to as 'Rahu' and the rest of the body of the Demon is referred to as 'Ketu. It is from this day that the enmity of Rahu with the Moon God persists and legends say that whenever lunar eclipse occurs, 'Rahu' engulfs the Moon God. In the horoscope if 'Rahu' and Moon are closely conjunct in the same house then this conjunction is referred to as 'Grahan Yog' which is inauspicious.The following graphical illustration makes it more clear,

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What is Rahu & Ketu?

The plane of orbit of revolution of Moon is inclined to the plane of revolution of earth around the Sun. Thus, the angle formed between the straight line from the center of Sun to the center of earth and the moon’s plane of revolution is equal to 5 Degrees. Now the plane of revolution of Moon intersects the plane of revolution of Earth-Sun at two points. Thus there forms an ascending node and the descending node. The ascending node is ‘Rahu’ while the descending node is ‘Ketu’.

As per the Hindu Mythology, during churning of the sea which is referred to as the 'Samudra-Manthan', the Gods and the Demons were involved in the churning with the aid of 'Vaasuki' snake. During the 'Samudra-Manthan' nectar or 'amrit' was churned out and all Gods lined up to take their share of this 'amrit'. However, in this band-wagon, one of the Demon disguised himself as a God to have his share of this 'amrit' and this secret was revealed by Moon God to Lord Vishnu who slaughtered the neck of this Demon with the help of his 'Sudarshan Chakra'. The head of this Demon is referred to as 'Rahu' and the rest of the body of the Demon is referred to as 'Ketu. It is from this day that the enmity of Rahu with the Moon God persists and legends say that whenever lunar eclipse occurs, 'Rahu' engulfs the Moon God. In the horoscope if 'Rahu' and Moon are closely conjunct in the same house then this conjunction is referred to as 'Grahan Yog' which is inauspicious. The following graphical illustration makes it more clear,

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What is Uttarayan and Dakshinayan?

'Uttar' means North and 'Ayan' means movement. Essentially 'Uttarayan' means the northward movement of the Sun starting from the point when it enters the sign of Capricorn on 'Makar Sankranti' (which falls on 14th of January every year) to the Summer Solstice i.e. on June 21st of every year.

During 'Uttarayan' the Sun’s journey starts when it enters in the zodiac sign of Capricorn (on ‘Makar Sankranti’) and then moves on to the sign of Aquarius to the sign of Pisces and then to the sign of Aries followed by the sign of Taurus and finally into the zodiac sign of Gemini.

'Uttarayan' is generally considered auspicious and legends say it that Bhishma, who had been granted the boon of immortality, decided to leave for the heavenly abode post the Mahabharat war on the first day of 'Uttarayan' as it was auspicious.

Similarly, ‘Dakshin’ means South and ‘Ayan’ means movement. Essentially, ‘Dakshinayan’ is the Southward movement of the sun starting from the point when it enters the sign of Cancer on 'Kark Sankranti' (which falls on 16th of July every year) to the Winter Solstice i.e. on December 22nd of every year.

During 'Dakshinayan' the Sun’s journey starts when it enters in the zodiac sign of Cancer (on ‘Kark Sankranti’) and then moves on to the sign of Leo to the sign of Virgo and then to the sign of Libra followed by the sign of Scorpio and finally into the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. ‘Dakshinayan’ is generally considered inauspicious.

Please note:- When we say the movement of the Sun it means the apparent movement of the Sun as seen from earth since it is the earth that orbits around the Sun in elliptical path and not the other way round.

The following horoscopic illustration elaborates further. The green line is the transit of Sun in the zodiacs during ‘Uttarayan’ while the yellow line is the transit of Sun during ‘Dakshinayan’.